They had gone on a tour to study steps to control HIV/AIDS, but ended up enjoying the pleasures for which Thailand is best known, reports Vijay Swaroop.

They had gone on a 10-day tour to study measures and ways to control
HIV/AIDS, but ended up enjoying the pleasures for which Thailand is best known for worldwide.

Barely able to hide their excitement over the experiences on a foreign jaunt, the members of the 15-member Bihar Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS, including some MLAs were left fending and scurrying for cover after a woman member of the team, Gyanti Devi (member, District Board, Gaya) revealed before the media that most of the legislators "were more interested in massaging".

Her revelation sent the alarm bells ringing and a quite a few MLAs were seen explaining, "No, I didn't. Some others enjoyed."

Barely minutes after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met the Bihar Legislative Forum members who called on him to apprise him of the tour, Gyanti Devi, while explaining her experience, said that all the MLAs indulged in merry-making. "Massage karate they. Aur kya karte the hum nahi janate (They used to go for massaging. What else they used to do, I don't know).”

Shankar Prajapat, Pramukh of Imamganj block, Gaya, corroborated her comments. However, he denied that he indulged in such activities.

Bhudeo Chaudhary, the JD (U) MLA, was quick to deny that he ever went for massaging during the trip. However, he accepted that some MLAs did go to massage parlours. “Kuchh massage karaye, kuchh nahi (Some got the massage done, some did not). While narrating his experiences of Thailand, Chaudhary said that the country was open to sex.

What surprised everybody was his knowledge about types of massage prevalent in Thailand. “Wahan tarah-tarah ka massages hota hai (There are various types of massages). Foot massage, half- massage, oil massage, and the whole-body massage.… foot massage was indeed good for foot,” he went on narrating.”

Anil Kumar, the BJP MLA from Paliganj, denied that he went for massaging. According to sources, some of the MLAs went even for water skiing and para dropping on the sea surface.

The Bihar Legislative Forum members visited Bangkok, Pattaya, Chaingmai and were given $1100 each for the trip.